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‘Clearly racist’: Fashion Institute of Technology apologizes for offensive outfits at fashion show
A model walks the runway wearing Junkai Huang during the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fine Art Of Fashion And Technology Show at Pier 59 Studios on February 07, 2020 in New York, New York. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fashion Institute of Technology)
By Katie Shepherd
February 20, 2020 at 6:18 AM EST
As models slipped into marbled jumpsuits backstage at a fashion show to debut the designs of graduating Fashion Institute of Technology students, someone handed them large prosthetic ears, oversized plastic red lips and fuzzy caterpillarlike eyebrows.
The lips and “monkey ears” recalled offensive caricatures of black people that exaggerated those features, said one model who refused to wear the accessories. The costumes reminded some observers of the blackface common at minstrel shows that demeaned black people and racist images that compared black people to monkeys, many critics noted on social media.
At least three women donned all three accessories at the showcase, which coincided with New York Fashion Week. Two others wore the false ears and eyebrows onstage, but did not sport the exaggerated lips. One woman refused to wear any of it.
“I stood there almost ready to break down, telling the staff that I felt incredibly uncomfortable with having to wear these pieces and that they were clearly racist,” 25-year-old model Amy Lefevre, who is black, told the New York Post last week in an interview about the Feb. 7 show. “I have never felt like that in my life.”
Now, the president of the institute in New York and the chair of the school’s fashion design master of fine arts program apologized for sending models onto the runway wearing the accessories.
“It does not appear that the original intent of the design, the use of accessories or the creative direction of the show was to make a statement about race; however, it is now glaringly obvious that has been the outcome,” Joyce F. Brown, the college’s president, said in an open letter Tuesday. “For that, we apologize — to those who participated in the show, to students, and to anybody who has been offended by what they saw.”
Amy Lefevre walks the runway wearing Junkai Huang during the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fine Art Of Fashion And Technology Show. (Raglin/Getty Images for Fashion Institute of Technology) (Bennett Raglin/AFP/Getty Images)
Lefevre finished her runway walk without the prosthetics. However, she said the showrunners pressured her to wear the same costumes as the other women in the show.
“I was told that it was fine to feel uncomfortable for only 45 seconds,” she told the New York Post.
Despite Lefevre’s objections, several other models who are not black agreed to wear the ears and lips. They displayed the outfits in front of an audience of about 100 people, including photographers who captured the designs.
A model walks the runway wearing Junkai Huang during the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fine Art Of Fashion And Technology Show. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fashion Institute of Technology)
Allegations of racism or of racial insensitivity have dogged the fashion industry for years. In 2018, Prada pulled from its stores small black figurines that resembled blackface characters dating back to the 1800s. People flooded H & M with complaints about an ad featuring a black child wearing a sweatshirt printed with “Coolest monkey in the jungle.”
Last year was filled with fashion faux pas. Three companies had to discontinue designs in February 2019 alone. Burberry apologized for a sweatshirt designed with a noose where the drawstrings would typically fall around the neck. Gucci yanked a black turtleneck with red lips that could be pulled up around the wearer’s mouth from its stores. Katy Perry jettisoned two designs from her footwear line, after people said a pair of black shoes decorated with bright red lips evoked blackface imagery.
For Lefevre, the offensive accessories hit her hard.
“I could not control my emotions,” she told the New York Post. “People of color are struggling too much in 2020 for the promoters not to have vetted and cleared accessories for the shows.”
FIT administrators have issued multiple mea culpas and promised to investigate how the accessories were approved for use in the fashion show.
The chair of the MFA program at FIT apologized to Lefevre in a public statement on Wednesday.
“It was never our intent for the show’s styling to be interpreted as racist or to make people feel uncomfortable but I know fully understand why this has happened,” Jonathan Kyle Farmer said. “I take full responsibility and am committed to learning from this situation and taking steps to do better.”
A model walks the runway wearing Junkai Huang during the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fine Art Of Fashion And Technology Show at Pier 59 Studios on February 07, 2020 in New York, New York. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fashion Institute of Technology)
By Katie Shepherd
February 20, 2020 at 6:18 AM EST
As models slipped into marbled jumpsuits backstage at a fashion show to debut the designs of graduating Fashion Institute of Technology students, someone handed them large prosthetic ears, oversized plastic red lips and fuzzy caterpillarlike eyebrows.
The lips and “monkey ears” recalled offensive caricatures of black people that exaggerated those features, said one model who refused to wear the accessories. The costumes reminded some observers of the blackface common at minstrel shows that demeaned black people and racist images that compared black people to monkeys, many critics noted on social media.
At least three women donned all three accessories at the showcase, which coincided with New York Fashion Week. Two others wore the false ears and eyebrows onstage, but did not sport the exaggerated lips. One woman refused to wear any of it.
“I stood there almost ready to break down, telling the staff that I felt incredibly uncomfortable with having to wear these pieces and that they were clearly racist,” 25-year-old model Amy Lefevre, who is black, told the New York Post last week in an interview about the Feb. 7 show. “I have never felt like that in my life.”
Now, the president of the institute in New York and the chair of the school’s fashion design master of fine arts program apologized for sending models onto the runway wearing the accessories.
“It does not appear that the original intent of the design, the use of accessories or the creative direction of the show was to make a statement about race; however, it is now glaringly obvious that has been the outcome,” Joyce F. Brown, the college’s president, said in an open letter Tuesday. “For that, we apologize — to those who participated in the show, to students, and to anybody who has been offended by what they saw.”
Amy Lefevre walks the runway wearing Junkai Huang during the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fine Art Of Fashion And Technology Show. (Raglin/Getty Images for Fashion Institute of Technology) (Bennett Raglin/AFP/Getty Images)
Lefevre finished her runway walk without the prosthetics. However, she said the showrunners pressured her to wear the same costumes as the other women in the show.
“I was told that it was fine to feel uncomfortable for only 45 seconds,” she told the New York Post.
Despite Lefevre’s objections, several other models who are not black agreed to wear the ears and lips. They displayed the outfits in front of an audience of about 100 people, including photographers who captured the designs.
A model walks the runway wearing Junkai Huang during the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fine Art Of Fashion And Technology Show. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fashion Institute of Technology)
Allegations of racism or of racial insensitivity have dogged the fashion industry for years. In 2018, Prada pulled from its stores small black figurines that resembled blackface characters dating back to the 1800s. People flooded H & M with complaints about an ad featuring a black child wearing a sweatshirt printed with “Coolest monkey in the jungle.”
Last year was filled with fashion faux pas. Three companies had to discontinue designs in February 2019 alone. Burberry apologized for a sweatshirt designed with a noose where the drawstrings would typically fall around the neck. Gucci yanked a black turtleneck with red lips that could be pulled up around the wearer’s mouth from its stores. Katy Perry jettisoned two designs from her footwear line, after people said a pair of black shoes decorated with bright red lips evoked blackface imagery.
For Lefevre, the offensive accessories hit her hard.
“I could not control my emotions,” she told the New York Post. “People of color are struggling too much in 2020 for the promoters not to have vetted and cleared accessories for the shows.”
FIT administrators have issued multiple mea culpas and promised to investigate how the accessories were approved for use in the fashion show.
The chair of the MFA program at FIT apologized to Lefevre in a public statement on Wednesday.
“It was never our intent for the show’s styling to be interpreted as racist or to make people feel uncomfortable but I know fully understand why this has happened,” Jonathan Kyle Farmer said. “I take full responsibility and am committed to learning from this situation and taking steps to do better.”
not surprised... the model minority strikes again...